God's Plan For Good In My LifeSample

When I was a teenager, every year there was a music festival way out on farmland near my hometown. We went for years, but later in my teenage years my friends and I would camp at the festival. Thousands of people would camp there every year, way out far from anything.  When I think back to that time, one of my best memories isn’t what was happening on the stage; it was the memory of sleeping under the stars, watching shooting stars, planes, and satellites fly over.  I remember thinking then that we were lying outside in the middle of nowhere and wild animals could attack us while we slept. But from our perspective there were thousands of tents and people camping all around us. I remember thinking, “wow, there are thousands of campers that the animals would have to get through to get to us. This really feels like community; it feels so safe.”

I have that picture when I read in Psalm 34 that the angel of Lord encamps around those who deeply revere Him, and He delivers them. It goes on to say, “Fear (revere) the Lord you His holy people, for those who fear Him lack no good thing”. There are seasons of challenge, and 2020 was certainly a massive one; but those who seek the Lord and revere Him lack no good thing. I want us to be people who seek God. I want us to have God’s perspective and allow him to do what he wants to do in us.

Our family has been watching Harry Potter again. I know that not all are fans of the series, but I have seen many parallels to Scripture in the world of Hogwarts. For example (note: this is a spoiler), when Harry comes down the grand staircase, having just learned that he is in fact one of the horcruxes, and a piece of Voldemort, a piece of evil, of darkness is actually inside of him. Hermione and Ron ask him what’s wrong; he says, “I think you know what’s wrong and I think you’ve known for awhile.” Hermione starts to cry and you can tell she knew.  There is a piece of darkness inside of Harry that must die. It is such an analogy of the place that Jesus brings all of us to. Where we realize this need for control is a part of darkness in our own humanity that we must die to. Thank God Jesus did the physical dying for us, and what he asks of you and me is to surrender to the cross, and give control to the resurrected Jesus who came out of the tomb.